Last year’s Mesa League baseball championship came down to the last regular season series between Bonita Vista and Hilltop. It proved to be a nail-biting confrontation that went to the Barons.

But the start to the 2011 season for Bonita Vista has hardly been glamorous. The Barons started the spring campaign 0-6 (0-5 in the Hilltop-Lolita’s tournament) before picking up their first win of the season March 23 against San Ysidro as part of the month-long Metro Conference tournament.

Since then, four more wins have followed, including victories against Olympian and Sweetwater as part of the Metro tourney and a two-game sweep against Longmont, Colo., to bring the Barons’ record to 5-6.

“It’s going to be a very competitive league from top to bottom this season,” sixth-year BVHS coach Victor Gervais said. “Every team has a solid set, whether it’s pitching, overall balance or experience.”

Gervais gives Eastlake the nod in the pitching department, Otay Ranch the nod in overall strength and his team in experience.

Bonita Vista opens Mesa League play with a two-game series against Chula Vista April 13 (at CVHS) and April 15 (at BVHS).

El Capitan, Parker capture South Bay tourneys

Hilltop coach Kurt Gritts wasn’t fooling when he unveiled the line-up for this year’s Hilltop-Lolita’s tournament, played March 8-19 at the west side Chula Vista school. “We have some of the top teams in San Diego coming here,” he said.

El Capitan out-dueled Granite Hills, 3-1, to capture the championship in an all-East County final.

Francis Parker, meanwhile, defeated Mission Hills, 9-5, to capture the championship title of this year’s Andy Sanchez-Bully’s East tournament in a game played March 19 at Otay Ranch High School. The tournament is named in the honor of the late Sanchez, a youth sports star in Chula Vista and a baseball/football coach at Sweetwater High School.